NICU
by GRACE5
Summary: D/L, Lindsay has to deliver earlier then planned.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I did do research, but I still don't know what it's like to have a c-section, or any labor procedure, so forgive me if I am off on the details.

"Dan, we need to go to the hospital." Flack said as he ran into the break room and grabbed Danny's arm yanking him towards the elevator.

"What the fuck Flack? Why do we need to go to the hospital?" Danny barked as he and Flack stepped onto the elevator.

"Lindsay was stabbed." Flack said as the elevator reached the garage level.

"No." Danny said shaking his head, not believing Flack. "Lindsay, went grocery shopping."

"And someone held the store up, he got scared and Lindsay got the worst of it." Flack explained calmly, knowing when it came to Lindsay, he was a hair trigger.

"Come'on Flack you're not funny." Danny said shaking his head and turning back to the elevator.

"I'm not fuckin' messin' with you Messer." Flack yelled at him. "The baby's in distress, they're gonna do a c-section."

"For real?" Danny said, his voice empty and his wide as he looked at Flack, and walked closer to him. "You're not joking are you?"

"No, you're gonna be a daddy today." Flack said as he enveloped Danny in a "manly" hug.

"We need to go." Danny said as he and Flack jogged to his car. "What about Linds, is she okay?" he asked as he fidgeted in his seat.

"She's fine, it's just the baby's in distress, she's good." Flack explained as he turned his lights and sirens on.

"Why did you know before me?" Danny asked as he pulled out his phone to check to see if he had any messages.

"I was called to the scene, none of the other officers recognized her, I guess." Flack said. "She was rushed to the hospital right away, they left her purse, that's how I knew who she was."

"Oh." Danny said as he twisted the still new ring on his left ring finger. "She's only 34 weeks, Flack." Danny said his voice breaking.

"Danny, you're son is gonna be fine." Flack said sternly. "Don't think like that, think about what you haven't bought yet."

"Did you get him?" Danny asked as they pulled into the hospital.

"Yeah." Flack said.

"Good." Danny said as he jumped out of the car and ran to the nurses' station, startling the young nurse. "I'm looking for my wife."

"Okay." She said and continued to just look at him waiting for a name. "Her name?"

"Lindsay Messer." Danny said as he continued to scan the area around him, practically bouncing, ready to run.

"3rd floor, in the maternity ward." She said and Danny was gone.

"Lindsay Messer." He said as he ran off the elevator on the 3rd floor to the nurses' station.

"And you are?" the lady asked rudely.

"The fuckin' husband and father." Danny barked, startling the nurse.

"I'm sorry sir-." She started but what cut off by the shattered look on Danny's face. "No, nothing bad happened, she's just already in delivery, I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait."

"What?" Danny asked, like a lost child, completely devastated. "I'm gonna miss it?"

"Mr. Messer?" another nurse asked standing next to Danny.

"Yeah." Danny said as he saw Flack step off the elevator and give him a weak smile.

"Come with me, you're wife is in recovery right now." She said with a gentle smile, as Danny nodded and visually tried to swallow back his tears.

"What about my baby?" Danny asked as he peaked in each one of the rooms he passed.

"He's fine, he's in the NICU." She said as she stood by a door and opened it for Danny. "She's been asking for you."

"Thanks." Danny said as he walked into the room and saw Lindsay, he smiled as he watched her badger the nurses for information on their son.

"Ma'am, he's fine, they're running test on him in the NICU, when I know something, you will know." She said with a sweet smile, as she took Lindsay's vitals.

"Where's my husband?" she asked, her eyes focused on the nurse, not noticing Danny standing there smirking at her.

"Right here." Danny said causing both of them to jump.

"What is the matter with you?" the nurse laughed at him. "You shouldn't scare people in the hospital."

"Sorry, but she scared me first." Danny laughed as he sat on the edge of Lindsay's bed. "Hey." He said his voice barely above a whisper.

"We're ready to move you back to your room, Mrs. Messer." A nurse said interrupting them.

"Okay." Lindsay said as she reached for Danny's hand and squeezed. "I'm fine, go find the baby."

"Okay." Danny said and followed her bed out of the room.

"Can I help you sir?" a nurse asked as Danny stood in the doorway of the NICU.

"I'm looking for my son." Danny said as he looked at the nurse.

"What's his name?" she asked softly, sensing the man's fear.

"Messer." Danny said. "Just Messer, right now."

"Right this way, we just finished all the tests." She said with a gentle smile as she made Danny sterilize before leading Danny over to an open crib, with a small baby inside, covered by wires.

"He just seems to be a typical feeder and grower." She explained as she watched the man gaze at his son. "But he doesn't need a feeding tube, we had your wife pump some milk in recovery, he feeds well."

"He's not yellow." Danny noted as he visually counted the 10 finger and toes.

"No, no jaundice. We also have him on an apnea monitor, it's very common in preemies." She said as Danny pulled an empty seat and sat down next to the crib. "You can touch him."

"Yeah?" Danny said as he gently ran a finger down the baby's cheek, carefully. "How big is he?"

"4.9lbs, 17 inches." She smiled as she watched Danny place his finger in his son's hand, and how he smiled when his son gripped his finger.

"He's pretty cute." Danny said more to himself than the nurse. "Has his mother's nose." Danny noted and gently kissed the baby's forehead. The nurse turned and walked away.

Danny smiled as he studied the baby, the small blue cap, still too big for his son's head. All he had was a diaper on, his umbilical cord still visible. Danny sat there for a while and carefully watched his son's chest, remember how the nurse said apnea was common in preemies. His breathing was shallow and soon alarms went off all around Danny.

"Sir, you need to leave." The nurse said as she escorted a fighting Danny out of the NICU.

"No, I'm not going any where." Danny said as he was pushed out into the hallway. "That's my kid." He yelled as the door closed.

"Mr. Messer, we'll come to your wife's room, when he's stable." The nurse said opening and closing the door again.

"Danny?" Flack asked as he walked down the hallway. "What happened?"

"I don't know." He said. "I don't know, his breathing was shallow, then all these alarms were going off, and the pushed me out." Danny said as he turned and looked back through the window, where nurses and a doctor were crowded around his son.

"Hey." Flack said getting Danny's attention. "He's gonna be fine."

"Yeah." Danny said not paying attention to Flack. "I need to see Lindsay."

"Yeah, you do. She won't let me back into the room until I found you or had info." Flack said as he clapped his hand on Danny's shoulder as they walked reluctantly away from the NICU. "He'll be fine."

"Hey." Danny said as he walked into his wife's room.

"Danny, what's wrong?" she asked immediately knowing something happened by the look on Danny's face.

"I don't know." He swallowed as he laid down beside and gently took her into his arms, careful not to hurt her. "He was fine, he was sleeping, then alarms just went off." Danny cried into hair. "He's so small."

"Oh, Dan." She said as she took his hands from around her waist and brought them under her neck, holding him closer as they both cried.

"They said apnea is common in preemies." Danny noted as his tears slowed.

"Maybe that's all, maybe he just forgot to breathe." She said. "And the monitors caught it."

"I hope." Danny said nuzzling her neck. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Lindsay asked kissing his hand.

"I wasn't there, I missed it, I missed our baby's birth, his first cry." Danny whimpered. "I wasn't there to hold your hand, tell you how I proud I was on you."

"It's okay Danny, I know you wanted to be there." She said as she played with his ring. "I love you."

"Love you too, Montana." He said as he laid his head on her shoulder. "He needs a name."

A/N: this is gonna be a short one, maybe 3 chapters. Accidents Happen, I'm stuck so I'm gonna work on this, any ideas for Accidents, let me know, Any ideas for names, let me know, lol.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for all the ideas for names, most came up with Aiden, but I'm sorry I honestly hate that names, sorry, lol, so I came up with Kaden which means fighter, kinda like Aiden, a little.

"Osbourne." Lindsay said as she read the book Don had gotten them from the book store. "It means god bear."

"What the fuck is a god bear?" Danny asked, still wrapped tightly around her.

"I don't know." Lindsay said with a smile. "Darby."

"No, Darby Messer?" Danny laughed and kissed her shoulder. "Try the Ks."

"Okay." Lindsay said and flipped through the book to the Ks. "Kale."

"No." Danny said.

"Kansas or Kentucky?" Lindsay laughed. "They're both unisex names."

"Try again, love." Danny laughed and pointed to a name at the beginning of the page. "It means fighter."

"Hm." Lindsay said. "Kaden, Kaden Messer."

"I like it." Danny said softly.

"Kaden what?" Lindsay asked.

"I guess Aiden would be weird, Kaden Aiden." Danny laughed.

"True." Lindsay laughed and closed the book. "What about Louis?"

"Kaden Louis Messer." Danny said and kissed her cheek. "I like it a lot."

"Me too." Lindsay said as she took his hand in hers. "K.L.M."

"Sounds important." Danny smiled as he buried his head into her neck.

"Mr. and Mrs. Messer?" a doctor asked opening the door causing Danny to get off the bed and stand, looking at the doctor, waiting for information.

"Is he okay?" Lindsay asked worried.

"He's fine. He has apnea, but not A's and B's." the doctor explained.

"A's and B's?" Danny asked.

"Apnea with bradycardia, where his heart rate slows down also." She explained with a sweet smile. "That's not a problem for him."

"Good." Lindsay said looking over at Danny who sighed in relief.

"We have him on an apnea monitor, but other than that, all he needs to do is put on weight, he's feeding really well." She continued. "You can try breastfeeding, if you want, skin to skin therapy is always good with any newborn, preemie or not."

"What's that?" Danny asked

"Your skin against his." She said with a smile and moved her eyes back and forth between the parents. "Either one of you."

"Yeah, we can try that." Danny said looking over at Lindsay, who nodded in agreement. "When can he go home?"

"Once he puts on some weight, and hopefully he'll grow out of his apnea soon, but if not, we can send you home with a monitor." She said. "You both should be trained in infant CPR, just in case."

"Thank you doctor." They both said and the doctor nodded and left the room.

"He's gonna be fine." Lindsay said as Danny sat in the chair beside her chair.

"Yes, he is." Danny agreed and kissed her lovingly.

~2 months later~

"Danny." Lindsay whispered walking into the now completed nursery.

"What?" he whispered back, his arms crossed on the railing of the crib, his head resting on his arm as he carefully watched the rise and fall of Kaden's chest.

"You have to at least try to sleep." She said, wrapping her arms around him, both watching the baby.

"I can't." Danny said as he gently stroked the baby's cheek. "I'm afraid if I leave, he'll stop breathing and we'll never know, until the morning, when we don't hear a cry."

"Danny, he grew out of his apnea, he put on a lot of weight." Lindsay said, watching Kaden's eyes flutter behind his eyelids.

"I know." Danny said softly. "He's still small."

"He'll be small compared to you for another 16 years." Lindsay smiled as she kissed the back of his neck.

"Not what I meant." Danny laughed and the baby stirred. "We should go."

"Yeah." Lindsay said and took his hand and led him out of the room.

"Montana." Danny groaned as Lindsay laid on the bed and pulled Danny on top of her. "You're still healing."

"Shut up, Danny." She said and attacked him mouth. "Make love to me."

"Are you sure?" Danny asked as she took his shirt off.

"Positive." Lindsay said with a smile as Danny gently kissed her.

~2 year later~

It was a nice spring day, so while Danny drove down the streets he put the windows down, allowing Kaden, in the back, to enjoy the wind in his hair. The baby giggled from time to time, as he babbled away.

"What's so funny. Kade?" Danny asked looking in the rear view mirror.

"Daddy, funny." He laughed, his big brown eyes flicking to Danny's.

"Thank you." Danny said and noticed Kaden's left shoe was missing. "Where's you're shoe?" Danny asked the two year old.

"Daddy, funny." The little boy repeated and Danny watched as he picked up his sippy cup and tossed it out the window, leaving Danny stunned and the little boy giggling.

"Kaden Louis." Danny scolded just as he saw blue and red lights flash behind him. "Fuck."

"Fuck." Kaden repeated, causing his father's eyes to go wide.

"Don't say that, Mommy will have my balls." Danny said as he pulled over.

"Balls." Kaden laughed and clapped his hands.

"Sometimes, I think you should take more after your mother." Danny said as he saw the officer approach.

"Momma." He squealed as the officer stood next to his window and handed him his shoe, sippy cup, stuffed Eeyore, matchbox car, and coloring book.

"Here you go." He said with a smile before standing next to Danny's window. "How old?"

"2." Danny said proudly, looking back at the baby. "Thanks for picking all that up."

"No problem, I'm off duty, but that matchbox cracked my windshield." He said with a laugh. "I have a two year old at home too."

"Always something new." Danny said and looked back at the officers car, where there was indeed and large crack, that continued to grow. "I know that's a department car, I work in the crime lab, ugh, send me the bill?"

"Defiantly." He said with a smile. "Have a nice day, Detective Messer."

"You too." Danny said and turned the car back on as the officer waved by to Kaden. Danny put Kaden's window back up and pulled back onto the road. "You my boy, are in trouble."

"I sowry Daddy." He said as his face fell and he poked his bottom lip out.

"I know, you're little." Danny said as Kaden cuddled Eeyore, his beloved stuffed animal.

"I not little." He argued, his eyes narrowing.

"You're right I'm sorry." Danny said with a smile and watched him grab the sippy cup. "No, don't drink that, you just threw it out the window."

"kay." He said and put it back down.

"Here, be careful." Danny said handing him a water bottle, the cap already off.

"Uh oh." Kaden said looking up at his father.

"My favorite sound." Danny laughed as he parked the car in front of their apartment, and looked up to see his son covered in water, some still trickling down his cheek. "Kaden." Danny groaned as he got out of the car and opened the back door and packed all the objects into the diaper bag and gathered his son in his arms.

"Daddy wuve me." Kaden stated, kissing Danny's cheek sloppily.

"I do." Danny said as they entered the apartment. "God knows I do."

"Wuve you Daddy." Kaden said and Danny kissed his cheek before setting him down on the ground.

"You're still in trouble, Kade." Danny said taking the soaked T-shirt off him. Kaden's brown eyes pooling with tears as he poked his lips out again.

"I sowry." He said and dropped his head as Lindsay came out from the bathroom.

"What happened?" Lindsay asked seeing the sad toddler.

"Me bad." Kaden said as Danny picked him up and Lindsay stood in front of them.

"What did you do?" Lindsay asked stroking the boy's hair.

"He was throwing things out the window, while we were driving down the street." Danny said and Lindsay laughed, kissing Kaden's head. "We'll be buying an officer a new windshield."

"No." Lindsay said and noticed the left shoe was still missing from Kaden's foot. "Kade, we don't throw, remember."

"I member." He said and buried is head in Danny's neck. "Sowry Momma."

"It's okay baby." Lindsay laughed looking up at Danny. "Just no dessert tonight."

"No ocolate?" Kaden said shocked.

"No chocolate." Lindsay stated, causing the baby to scrunch up his nose. "Danny, did he throw his shirt out of the window?"

"No." Danny laughed. "I gave him my water bottle, and I guess he missed."

"Terrible Twos." Lindsay laughed as Danny headed towards the nursery.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Danny said as he dropped a kiss to Lindsay lips.


End file.
